Newsroom

Following a meeting with Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Tuesday (19 March 2019), the NATO Secretary General said that the signature of the Accession Protocol for the Republic of North Macedonia in February was a historic moment for the country and for NATO. “Your leadership helped make this happen”, he said. “By working with Athens you have shown what courage, commitment and diplomacy can achieve.”

NATO Review

Driving diversity at NATO
07 Mar. 2019Diversity does not happen on its own. It is not just a question of having the right regulations, policy frameworks and directives in place. Champions are needed, who create a spirit of inclusion, at all levels of an organisation. NATO is on the right path, but still has work to do. Tara Nordick and Patrice Billaud-Durand of NATO’s Executive Management Division share their views.

Resilience: the first line of defence
27 Feb. 2019The current unpredictable security environment has led to a renewed focus on civil preparedness. Two experts from NATO’s Defence Policy and Planning Division explain why.

NATO’s role in cyberspace
12 Feb. 2019Cyber threats to Alliance security are becoming more frequent, complex, destructive and coercive. Laura Brent of NATO’s Emerging Security Challenges Division looks at the challenges facing the Alliance and at the steps that have been taken in cyber defence over the past decade. The views expressed are her own.

NATO – ready for anything?
24 Jan. 2019Readiness has been at the top of NATO’s agenda since 2014. Jonathan Hill, a former staff member of NATO’s Operations Division, looks back through history to show that many of the current issues surrounding readiness, successful deterrence and reassurance are not new. The views expressed are his own.

The end of the ''Great Illusion'': Norman Angell and the founding of NATO
14 Jan. 2019In the first half of the 20th century, excessive nationalism, radical ideologies and misguided isolationism plunged Europe into two major wars that set half the world on fire. Today, as these trends are again on the rise, it is instructive to recall how an idealistic pacifist came to the conclusion that a collective defence pact between like-minded countries was the only way to keep the peace. Michael Rühle of NATO’s International Staff tells the story of Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Angell. The views expressed are his own.

Corruption and conflict: hand in glove
06 Dec. 2018Corruption contributes to civil unrest and feeds the rise of violent extremists. It is used as a foreign policy tool by some states to undermine institutions in others. It can also contribute to the failings of international interventions in conflict situations. As Karolina MacLachlan of Transparency International explains, this is why corruption matters to NATO.

Cooperating to counter hybrid threats
23 Nov. 2018Countering hybrid threats is a priority for EU-NATO cooperation and the new European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats in Helsinki plays a unique role. Axel Hagelstam of the Finnish Mission to NATO and Kirsti Narinen of the Centre explain.

Trident Juncture and the information environment
16 Nov. 2018NATO’s audiences are found in a noisy information environment, filled with competing messages and alternative voices. It is developing a capability to analyse how NATO communications are received and what others are saying. Jay Paxton of Allied Command Transformation explains.

The resilience of Resolution 1325
09 Nov. 2018Clare Hutchinson, the NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security, looks at what has been achieved since UN Security Council Resolution 1325 was adopted 18 years ago.

A credible transatlantic bond: Trident Juncture and NATO capabilities
19 Oct. 2018Trident Juncture 18 is a collective defence (Article 5) exercise, which portrays a threat from a fictional near-peer adversary on the north-eastern flank of the Alliance. It will exercise NATO’s ability to defend and reinforce Allies, including from across the Atlantic. Military historian Erlingur Erlingsson looks at the wider context.

Flexible logistics in a fluid, modern security environment
09 Oct. 2018Military mobility is essential for NATO’s deterrence and defence posture, and is now a key focus of cooperation with the European Union. Peter Williams of NATO’s Defence Policy and Planning Division explains. The views expressed are his own.

NATO-UN relations: looking ahead after 10 years of expanding cooperation
29 Aug. 2018 - 28 Sep. 2018NATO and the United Nations share strong bonds. Both organisations are conceived out of the same ethos of post-World War Two multilateralism and share a deep-seated commitment to common values. Endre Sebok of NATO’s Political Affairs and Security Policy Division explains how dialogue and cooperation are evolving to address common challenges and new realities. The views expressed are his own.

A world without NATO?
29 Aug. 2018Predictions about the imminent demise of NATO have been around for ages. But what would the end of NATO look like? Michael Rühle of NATO’s International Staff shares his views.

Can ISIS regroup? Lessons from interviews with ex-ISIS fighters
09 Aug. 2018Based on extensive interviews conducted as part of her wider research on terrorist organisations, Vera Mironova – a research fellow at the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School – shares her insights into the different types of ISIS/Daesh fighters, what happened to them and what they might do next.

Energy security: a critical concern for Allies and partners
26 Jul. 2018Ten years after the launch of NATO’s role in energy security, the deterioration in the security environment has brought increased strategic attention to the issue. Julijus Grubliauskas and Michael Rühle of NATO’s Energy Security Section explain. The views expressed here are their own.

The Alliance’s evolving posture: towards a theory of everything
06 Jul. 2018This broad overview of NATO’s overall posture, also sets out to dispel some widely-held myths about NATO, while highlighting some of the real challenges the Alliance needs to address. Dr Kęstutis Paulauskas works in NATO’s Defence Policy and Planning Division. The views expressed here are his own.

The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty at fifty: a midlife crisis
29 Jun. 2018The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is a cornerstone of international efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, to eventually eliminate them and to facilitate peaceful use of nuclear energy. But the Treaty risks being undermined by disappointment at the slow pace of nuclear disarmament, while at the same time the role of nuclear weapons in international politics is growing. Dr Jacek Durkalec, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, explains.

The Black Sea region: a critical intersection
17 May. 2018The Black Sea region is of crucial significance for Europe, being a major crossroads and critical intersection of east-west and south-north corridors. The region is home to three NATO members (Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey) and several NATO partner countries, so any instability or hostility in the area directly impacts the Alliance. Pavel Anastasov – a political scientist, who previously served in the Bulgarian government and currently works for NATO – outlines the main security challenges in the region and NATO’s response to them.

Will the Alliance discover navies again?
04 Apr. 2018“There is no one area in which Russia is outperforming NATO but their approach in combining technology, ways of fighting, platforms, weapons, sensors alongside an aggressive political will to act makes them challenging adversaries.” – Prof. Peter Roberts of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies.

Diplomacy by other means? NATO’s science sixty years on…
26 Mar. 2018The public release of archived documents has shed new light on the wider legacy of the Alliance’s investment in science. Crucially, it reveals the importance of this sponsorship, which started exactly sixty years ago, for the advancement of science as much as for the Allies’ relations at the height of the Cold War.

NATO IN FOCUS

The principle of collective defence is at the very heart of NATO’s founding treaty. It remains a unique and enduring principle that binds its members together, committing them to protect each other and setting a spirit of solidarity within the Alliance.

NATO constantly reviews and transforms its policies, capabilities and structures to ensure that it can continue to address current and future challenges to the freedom and security of its members. Presently, Allied forces are required to carry out a wide range of missions across several continents; the Alliance needs to ensure that its armed forces remain modern, deployable, and capable of sustained operations.

Many of the challenges NATO faces require cooperation with other stakeholders in the international community. Over more than 25 years, the Alliance has developed a network of partnerships with non-member countries from the Euro-Atlantic area, the Mediterranean and the Gulf region, and other partners across the globe. NATO pursues dialogue and practical cooperation with these nations on a wide range of political and security-related issues. NATO’s partnerships are beneficial to all involved and contribute to improved security for the broader international community.

NATO is an active and leading contributor to peace and security on the international stage. It promotes democratic values and is committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes. However, if diplomatic efforts fail, it has the military capacity needed to undertake crisis-management operations, alone or in cooperation with other countries and international organisations.